Next Avengers: Darkness
by Fangirlingovermarvel
Summary: Ultron may be gone, but that doesn't mean there is no longer evil in the world. There is always going to be a threat out there, you just need to make sure someone's willing to stop it.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

A figure sat in a dim, shadowy throne room, pressing his fingers together. He waited for a while and then finally, eight figures emerged from the shadows.

"Hello, children." The figure spoke darkly, his deadly glare fixed upon each and every one of them.

"Master." They said as they all bowed down.

"Soon, you will finally fulfill what you have been training for, but first, we need one more thing. Each of you have been trained to equal one of these 'Next Avengers', correct?"

They all nodded. They couldn't tell, but the figure smirked under his mask.

"Fair, is it not", he said as he continued, "Well, we aren't fair. So before we start phase one of our plan, we are going to get one more powerful team member."

All the children smirked, ready for what was to happen next.

"Unfortunately, this teammate is in SHIELD custody in a base at Indonesia. I am going to need 3 of you to go free him. Trick Shot."

A boy in Black and Purple with a black face mask on stepped forward. He had a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back.

"Viper." A girl with green eyes and light brown hair with green streaks stepped forward. She had guns strapped to her legs and a knife tucked into her belt.

"And Red Skull" A boy with a red mask on that resembles, well, a skull, stepped forward. He too had guns and a dagger on his back.

He handed them a flash drive "This has all the information you need. The coordinates are in the plane. You may go now." The children all existed the room, the chosen three heading toward the hanger where the plane was waiting.  
>"Go my children," he spoke, "Go start what your were destined to do; destroy the Avengers."<br>. . . . . . . . . . . .

Seven children sat at around table with 9 chairs around it. Those 7 children were James Rogers (son of Captain America and Black Widow), Francis Barton (son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird), Torunn Thorsdottir (daughter of Thor and Sif), Azari T'Challa (son of Black Panther and Storm), Henry Pym Jr. (son of Giant-Man and Wasp), and two new members; Laura Kinney (clone/adoptive daughter of Wolverine), and May Parker (daughter of Spider-Man and Mary Jane).

The seven teens desperately waited for the arrival of their eighth teammate.

"Where is she?" Pym whined, getting impatient.

"She'll get here soon. Last I saw her she was training, and by training I mean beating the LMDs to death." May informed him.

"Yeah, cuz' LMDs totally have lives." Laura said sarcastically.

"Just chill, she'll get here soon." Francis said nonchalantly.

Francine Barton walked down the long hallway to the debriefing room, where the team got their missions. She was the daughter of Hawkeye and Mockingbird (Francis' identical twin). She stopped thought, too look at the statues of her Mother and Father. There were statues of the original Avengers on both sides of the hall.

_"I miss you guys". _She thought to herself. She had decided to honor her mother's legacy and become the next Mockingbird.

She then snapped out of her thoughts and continued down the hall, bo staff tucked in her belt on her skinny jeans. She stepped through the doors of the room and walked to her seat.

"Hey guys." She said as she sat down in her chair.

"Took you long enough" Laura huffed. "How many times do you have to pretend an LMD is Francis and kill it for something he did last week." She added with a smirk.

Francine playfully hit her friend on the arm just as Francis gave Laura a glare that said _'shut up before I punch you in the face.'_

Tony Stark then walked into the room. "Okay, Avengers", he beagn, "There's been a break-in at a SHIELD base in Indonesia."

Francine, May, and Laura all snapped to attention with wide eyes at this statement. They worked for SHIELD before joining the Avengers and knew what was at that base.

Tony noticed their sudden panic. "I know, a powerful villain is being held there. So you guys need to get there as soon as possible. Go now. May, Laura, Francine explain what you're up against on the way there. They all nodded. "Avengers Assemble!" James yelled as they all ran out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

James led the eight teens toward the hanger. It's been eight months since they defeated Ultron, and in those eight months, they've rebuilt Avengers Tower (Where they are now living), made allies with the newly re-organized SHIELD, and helped all the countries Ultron took over return to their former glory. So now all cities were once again modern, instead of high-tech like when Ultron had taken over. They decided to live in New York City (which used to be Ultra City, but went back to being called New York City) since that's were their parents were based when they were Avengers. They also fought villains that popped up her and there, but nothing that bad. The mission they were going on now seemed like the most dangerous one yet, judging by the look on Laura, May, and Francine's faces.

James cleared his head of this thoughts and turned his attention back to the mission.

The team stepped into the plane, and Francis took his spot at the pilot's seat, with Francine next to him in the co-pilot's. Clint and Bobbi were both good pilots, so their children were the ones chosen to fly the Quinjet.

The other six Avengers sat in the seats behind them. From front to back, it was Torunn, Pym, And Laura on the right side behind Francine. Then it was James, Azari, and May on the left behind Francis.

The floor beneath the Quinjet began to rise, and the ceiling above it opened. "Taking off in five….four….three…two…ONE!" Francis yelled as he pulled the ignition forward, and the Quinjet took off into the sky.

Once they were flying smoothly in the air, Azari was the first to speak. "Okay, now that were on our way, mind telling us what were up against?" he asked, directing the question to the 3 newest members.

May took a deep breath before saying, "The son of the Abomination."

All of the kids froze, and Pym gasped and said, "The son of the Abomination! Like, THE Abomination! The super-strong bad guy that can even take down THE HULK!" he was freaking out by now.

"Yes, that one. How many Abominations are there?", Laura remarked with an eye roll.

"And remember, he's the one being HELD in Indonesia. Tony said there was a BREAK-in, so that means there may be more than one threat there. We need to be cautious." Francine stated.

"Right, good observation,Mockingbird." James said with a smile.

Francine gave a soft smile before saying "Thanks."

They had all agreed to go by a superhero name, so they all adapted their parents aliases, except for Torunn who just stuck with her regular name like Thor did, Laura who stayed with X-23 because she thought it sounded cool, and May who went with Spider-Girl instead of Spider-Man since, well, she's a girl.

Francine for one, loved to be called Mockingbird.

Francis just looked at the two and rolled his eyes, but smiled when he did it, which caught his sister's attention.

"What?" she asked, giving him a look.

"Nothing." He said. "Don't want to break up the conversation between you and your boyfriend."

Francine kicked his leg under the dashboard of the jet, and Francis let out an "Ow ! Jeez, I was just kidding!" he always joked like the two were a couple, but in reality, he would probably kill James if he was dating his sister.

Francine just rolled her eyes, but not without thinking; '_if only.'_

She kept this to herself, but she felt herself falling for the super soldier a bit. He was just so sweet and cute, and she loved the way he got all authoritive on missions. He'd probably never feel the same way about her though.

James stared out the window, thinking of a plan. Once he decided a good one, he addressed the rest of the team.

"Okay, Avengers! Here's the plan. Normally when something like this happens, we split into two groups. But since we have a highly dangerous fugitive who may be now on the loose, were going to stick together, got it?" he asked, waiting for his team's approval.

The rest of the team agreed, except for May.

"Wait, if the Abomination's son isn't broken out by the time we get there, shouldn't we send someone to check on the cell and stop anyone FROM breaking him out? Then, we wouldn't have to deal with getting a deadly prisoner back in captivity, because he wouldn't be out in the first place."

James thought about this, then decided to take May's advice. It was very logical, just like May.

"Good idea. X-23,do you think you can handle that?" he asked.

Laura nodded, but not before Francine cut-in.

"Laura doesn't have to. I'll do it, I can get in and out quickly if he's out, and if he's not, I can take down whoever's trying to get him out. Besides, if he is, you'd stand a better chance if she was with the rest of the team." The white haired girl stated.

"Are you sure?! I mean, if he gets ahold of you, he could kill you! And I DON'T want that to happen!" The patriot boy said, in a very worried tone.

'_I'll miss you too much' _

"I agree with Rogers, are you sure you're up to that, Cinie?" The clone asked.

"Yeah, there is NO WAY I'm letting you go off on your own in there." Francis remarked.

"Guys, were all superheroes here! I'll be fine!" she reassured. She hated people being so worried over her, just because she had no powers. They never do this to Francis, and he doesn't have powers! _Francis also kept an entire group of people alive under a city ruled by a maniacal robot, _She reminded herself.

"And stop being so overprotective, your my twin brother, not older brother!" she added, directing it towards her brother.

"I am older than you." He stated.

"Yeah, By 21 freaking seconds!" she sassed.

"Oooo, sassy much?" her brother taunted before saying; "Everyone get ready, we're landing.

All the Avengers got their weapons together as the twins landed the jet in a nearby jungle clearing. They all walked off and took a short hike to the Indonesia base.

Once they got there, they all started walking to where they heard fighting, except for Francine, who went towards the cell of the new Abomination. But before she got far, felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see James, looking her in the eyes.

"Be careful." He cautioned her, a worried glaze in his eyes.

She nodded before the two teens turned, and ran their separate ways.


	3. Chapter 3

The six teens entered a room that had two staircases leading up to a raised up walkway that stretched all the way around the square shaped room. There were two doorways that had been blown open using some sort of explosive on opposite sides of the room. Everything was a blackish-gray color.

Laura raised her hand in the air, signaling the others to stop. She sniffed the air and grunted.

"There are three people that broke in. None of the scents I recognize, but one smells a little like Francis and Francine."

The archer gave her a confused look. Who could possibly smell like him?

"How does…whoever it is.. smell like me?"

"I don't know, but my scent is never off."

"Maybe this person is related to you," Torunn added.

Hawkeye thought about it for a minute, then said, "Gorgeous may be onto something, but besides Francine, I don't remember having any other relatives. Well, that are alive." He then looked down for a moment, thinking about his parents. Torunn walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up and smiled at her.

"We can figure this out later, we need to focus," Azari said, jumping over the group and landing in front of them like a cat. May followed after him, her hand rubbing the back of her head with her brown eyes holding an unsure look. You couldn't notice it though, her mask was on. It wasn't really a problem for her to wear a mask that covers her entire head because her brown hair was pixie cut, so it didn't get in her way.

Laura followed behind her, her black hair reaching mid-back and her green eyes searching the room for danger. Exchanging a look with Hawkeye and Torunn, James walked forward with the couple trailing behind him.

Laura sniffed the air again and her eyes widened with shock. The heard a _snickt _as she released the claws that came out of her hands.

"They're coming," she said staring at the doorway on the right side of the room.

All six of them turned to look at the door, and three figures emerged. One was in black and purple and had a bow in his hand that went along with a quiver of arrows oh his back. The second was a girl with brown and green hair dressed in a green bodysuit. The third was another boy with a mask that was red… and looked like a skull.

'_Red Skull?' _James thought as he stared at the villain.

The girl in green scoffed. "These are the Next Avengers? They look pathetic." She had a slight German accent.

"I'll show you who's pathetic once I'm done with you!" the next Wolverine threatened.

"Stand down X-23, we don't know what they want," James ordered.

"The only thing we want is you and your team's complete and total demise, Captain," the Red Skull boy said.

Did this guy just say they wanted to destroy them?

"Okay," the red-head said glaring, "NOW we can kick their butts."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Francine slunk through the halls, careful not to be seen. So far she hasn't seen any SHIELD agents, but she doesn't want to risk being seen by any enemies. She rounded a corner and stopped short, her entire body frozen.

The door to the New Abomination's cell was open, or blown open, at least. She ran up to it and looked inside, but saw nothing.

'_Oh crap." _The spy thought to herself. She slowly started backing up, but stopped short as she heard a thumping sound heading towards her. She then realized what the sound was. It wasn't thumping. It was heavy footsteps, footsteps that almost shook the entire area.

She slowly turned, and an expression of shock and fear made its way onto her face. There, looking down on her, was a green monster with an evil grin on his face.

"Hello, Agent Mockingbird," it sneered. The Abomination tried to slam his fist down on Francine, but she dived to the ground and somersaulted out of the way just in time. The gymnast then rose to her feet and darted down the hall.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Pym flew quickly to the left, dodging the arrows that were raining down on him. He shot two stinger blasts at the enemy archer. His technique was slightly similar to Hawkeye's, so the small boy wondered if this was the guy X-23 said smelled like him. Almost as if on cue, Hawkeye jumped down on the walkway the other archer was standing on.

"I don't know who you are, but you look like a wannabe me. I would think about giving you some pointers, but your evil, so no."

"I don't need your stupid pointers!" the other archer yelled as he punched the hero in the face. The white haired boy staggered backwards, his cheek now slightly purple and bloody. He cringed in pain as he touched it, it stung real bad. Luckily no bones were broken.

He then looked up at the other archer, giving him a death glare that could almost kill. May, who was watching, shuddered when she saw the look. Even SHE was scared, and it was her own teammate.

Hawkeye began to speak, "You…little…b-," but was cut off as May webbed his opponent and pulled him onto the ground.

"Ah-ah-ah, Hawkie. Children are watching."

"Whatever you say, web-head," he retorted.

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" Pym yelled, crossing his arms.

"You kind of are, short-stuff," Hawkeye remarked with a smirk.

May was about to add something, but she then felt a tingling sensation. Spider-sense! She quickly jumped out of the way before one of the girl in green's shots hit her.

She was about to say something when someone entered the room.

"GUYS, Francine yelled as she ran into room using the other doorway across form them, "The Abomination, he's o-." She wasn't able to complete her sentence as a giant hand came out from behind her and grabbed the back of her head. Her black-brown eyes widened in fear as she was lifted off the ground.

Francine was completely terrified. It may just be her, but having your head fit perfectly into the palm of a super-villain's hand is pretty petrifying. But at the same time, she realized, who wouldn't be petrified by that.

The Abomination then smirked as he flung his hand down over the railing of the walkway, causing the next Mockingbird to fall to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for impact, but it never came. Instead, she felt air rushing by her and Torunn's hand grasping on to her ankle. She lowered the heroine onto the ground and landed next to her.

"Thanks, Tori," she said with a smile.

"No problem," the Asguardian said with a smile before flying off to face the new threat.

"Well that was horrifying," she said to herself. It was a scary experience, but she decided to get her head back in the game. It was like her mom always used to tell her; _Francine, sometimes bad things happen. Scary things. But when they do occur, you just have to let them go and keep on going. It's just what heroes have to do._

So Francine pushed it aside and pulled out her bo-staff, collapsing it out to the length she uses for fighting. She started using it to deflect the shots some girl wearing green aimed at her. Her bo-staff was made of a metal similar to adamantium, so the bullets bounced right of it.

She was soon back to back with Azari, both trying to avoid the shots this girl threw at them.

"Your quick to get over trauma," the African boy said to her with a smirk.

"I'm just that good," she replied with a smirk of her own. Truth is, she did get over things quickly, but there was one incident that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her mother's death. The memory began to come back to her, but she pushed it back into her thoughts before it did. She didn't want to relive the horror.

Hawkeye jumped down onto the ground level and approached his sister.

"You okay," he asked her with a voice full of genuine worry.

"I'm fine," she said while turning to face him. She then let out a gasp. "But YOUR not," she said pointing to his cheek.

"I'll be fine."

"If you say so," she said, and then with a powerful force, she threw her bo-staff at the girl, hitting her right in the forehead. The girl staggered backwards and fell against the wall.

Meanwhile, James was struggling against the Red Skull person. The villain tried to stab him, but he avoided it every time. The super-solider then punched him in the stomach, and the villain fell in pain. But as soon as he hit the ground, he took out a gun and shot the blue-eyed boy in the leg from his spot on the floor.

"GAH!" The new Captain America grunted as he grabbed his leg.

The villain then stood up and smirked. "We have what we came for, my teammates. Trick Shot, Viper, Abomination, let's go."

He walked towards the door with the other villains following him. Azari came over and helped James up, putting the injured teammate's arm around his shoulders.

Francis then picked up Laura bridal-style from the floor. The clone had fallen unconscious while fighting the Abomination and was covered in blood. Luckily, she was already beginning to heal.

The heroes then walked back to the Quinjet in silence.

**Hey guys! Fangirlingovermarvel here! I'm sorry for not updating in forever. This is the longest chapter I've written so far, so I hope it makes up for it. I'm also sorry if my writing is kind of bad. The first two chapters could have been better I think, but I feel this one was a little better quality. I'm also on break right now, so I may be able to update 2 to 3 times a week. Other than that, I will most likely update every Saturday. Thank you For your time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry I didn't update yesterday. We had company over literally all day.**

James gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the metal railing that was attached to the sides of the hospital bed. He was in the Quinjet's med bay, and he was really trying to ignore the pain in his leg. Sure, he's gotten hurt many times from all types of gunshots, but this time was different. Most guns nowadays use some sort of energy or lasers, but Red Skull (as he decided to call him now) used old-fashioned bullets. However, they weren't entirely old-fashioned because these bullets seemed to be more powerful and damaging than regular ones. So all in all, the red-head was in a lot of pain right now.

He looked over at Laura to see how she was doing, hoping it would get his mind off of his injury. The clone was no longer covered in blood and had finished healing, except she was still unconscious. She fidgeted some in her sleep and shifted onto her side before becoming still again.

May and Pym then entered the small room. They both gave sympathetic looks to James and Laura, which bothered the soldier because it made him feel weak and helpless. May then walked over to him and placed her hand on his gun wound.

"We're going to try to get the bullet out, okay James?" May said, speaking to him like he was a toddler. This also made him feel weak, so he just gave her a look and grunted in agreement. Pym then walked over as well, holding some tools.

"This may hurt, a lot," the young boy warned.

"Fine, just get it over with," James said dryly while crossing his arms. He just wanted this experience to end and hopefully never happen again. But at the same time, he was a superhero, so he knew that this was going to happen may more times in the future.

The red-head was soon interrupted from his thoughts as he felt something dig into his skin. He looked and saw May sticking some utensil into his leg, trying to find the bullet. She dug a little further and he felt his eyes widen in pain and his hands fly back to the railing, tightly gripping it once more. He had one hand on each side of the bed, both probably bending the railing there. He squeezed his eyes shut as May went even further into his skin, feeling blood drip out from the open wound. Finally he felt the utensil grab the bullet, and May quickly, yet carefully, yanked it out of him. He threw his head back in pain but soon relaxed knowing this whole nightmare was over. Pym came over and cleaned his wound while May disposed of the bullet in the trash. She then walked back over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You did a good job. Your tough, Rogers," the brown-haired girl said with a smile.

"Thanks," he responded . He gave her a grateful smile and then turned to look at Pym so he could thank him as well.

"You too," he told him.

The small boy ran over and gave him a hug, almost accidently choking him. He then pulled away and said, "Your welcome! I'm just glad you're okay."

"Me too," May added in agreement.

James just smiled as they walked out of the med bay and back to their seats. He decided to stay in the med bay and rest until they reached the tower, where Tony could fully give him a medical check-up. The boy just soon laid back and slowly drifted to a soothing sleep.

Meanwhile up front, Francis was focusing on flying the plane. Well, trying to at least. The pain in his cheek was really bothering him and was becoming distracting. He tried to rub it, but it just made it hurt more. He tried to do it again, but he got the same result. "Ow!" he said as he touched it. He hoped no one heard him, but unfortunately someone did.

"Want me to take over?" his sister asked as she gave him a questioning look.

"No, I'm fine," he answered.

"You sure?"

"Yes, Francine. I'm sure."

"Okay then."

He turned his attention back to the plane, but was not flying for long as it turned out someone else had heard him.

Torunn walked over and turned on the auto-pilot. She then grabbed the back of Francis' jacket and dragged him out of his seat and to the med bay. "You're getting medical attention," she told him.

"Okay, beautiful. Whatever you say," he replied with a smirk.

Torunn blushed as May decided to help them and followed them into the med bay. She then got some supplies and started to treat Francis' cheek with Torunn helping her. The teens did not notice Laura beginning to stir. She gripped her head and sat up, looking around the room in a daze. The fog in her mind finally cleared and she snapped to attention, suddenly very alert.

"What happened? Is everyone okay? Why am I in here?" she asked, wanting answers quickly.

"The bad guys kicked our butts and got away," the archer answered glumly.

May gave him a sympathetic look before answering the rest of the black-haired girl's questions.

"Everyone's okay, there were a few injuries, but other than that everyone is accounted for. You got really hurt fighting the Abomination, so that's why you're in here."

"Oh, right," Laura said dejectedly. She then looked over at Francis and saw his cheek. She gawked before smirking and saying, "Did you get punched in the face? Now THAT is ironic."

The white-haired boy gave her a glare before turning to Torunn and asking, "Can she heal from drowning? I need some way to shut her up."

The clone gave him a threatening look and released her hand and foot claws. Francis' eyes widened at the familiar '_snickt' _as he gave her a nervous smile.

"Kidding! I was just kidding!" he said somewhat pleadingly. He gave a nervous laugh when he saw the light in the room reflect off of her razor sharp claws.

Torunn, not wanting any more injuries to worry about, put her hand out and said, "No decapitating the patients, or giving them any injuries."

Francis let out a sigh of relief as Laura crossed her arms and huffed. The Asguardian then looked over at May, who had suddenly become very quiet.

"Is thee alright?" she asked.

"Huh?" May asked. She had been deep in thought, so it took her awhile to process the question. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine," she finally answered.

"You sure?" Laura added.

"Yeah," the web-slinger answered once more. She hesitated a bit before adding, "I was just wondering how we're going to explain all this to Tony."

All the teens froze at the same time.

_Oh yeah, _they all thought, _debriefing with Tony. We're dead._


	5. Chapter 5

Tony Stark paced back and forth, occasionally stopping to try and say something, but would then continue pacing. The man was completely shocked about the mission outcome, he wasn't expecting it to be a huge failure. He knew he shouldn't be mad or frustrated with the kids, but he just couldn't help it. It was a break-in, A BREAK-IN for goodness sakes! He thought it shouldn't be too hard for the kids to handle, but obviously he was wrong. At the same time, he reminded himself, it wasn't really their fault. They didn't know who was going to be there, who they were up against. Besides, there was a highly dangerous convict there, he couldn't expect complete perfection. But he still didn't expect them to fail, much less come home injured. Sure, a few scratches and bruises would be expected, but A GUN-SHOT wound? He didn't see that coming. He didn't see a severe punch- to -the- face coming, either.

The old man was finally able to ask one simple question, "How?"

The teens shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a way to explain their failure to their guardian. Finally, someone spoke up.

"We met our match," Azari said sadly, looking at the ground.

Tony's eyes widened a bit, but then returned back to normal. He knew it was bound to happen at some point, evil just couldn't disappear. He knew someone was bound to come along and be The Avengers perfect match, perfect enemy, perfect equal. He just hadn't wanted it to happen anytime soon.

"Okay," the billionaire began, "I understand. It was going to happen at some point in time, and that time is now. You guys are going to need to up your training, you're facing bigger threats now, MUCH bigger threats by the sound of it. You're going to need to learn more skills and strategies, not to mention you'll be gathering information on your opponents. Preparation is key to defeating larger threats. Most importantly, you all NEED to be CAREFUL," he then pointed at James.

"YOU got shot."

The red-head looked down in shame, it was already bad enough that he had to go through that, and now he was being called out for it. Today was not a good day.

Tony then turned his finger towards Francis. "YOU got punched in the face," the man then stopped and blinked before saying, "Wow, that's ironic."

"WILL EVERYONE PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT!" the archer shouted in frustration.

Lastly, Tony pointed at Francine. "And YOU almost died, or at least almost got severely injured."

The white-haired girl just smiled sheepishly and laughed nervously, she didn't really want to be put on the spot about that. "But at least I didn't," she finally said.

The old man just gave her a look before turning towards the rest of the team.

"The last thing I want to know is who were your opponents?" he asked.

Laura was the first to answer his question. "There were three people who broke-in. One was an archer named Trick-Shot, another was some gun-girl named Viper, and the last guy's name we never got, but he wore a mask that resembles a red skull, so I guess his name is Red Skull. They broke out a villain called the Abomination, and yes, he is the original Abomination's son."

Tony looked taken aback. His eyes were wide in shock and his mouth was slightly open. He couldn't believe it. These new villains were all named after previous villains, except for this Viper girl, but he bet she had something to do with Madame Viper. All the villains these new ones were named after had fought the past Avengers before. Maybe the villain's had children too, to carry on their legacies.

Tony finally told the teens, who had been staring at him while he was in thought. "It sounds like these people are the children of past villains, or at least people who chose to take up their mantles," he then stopped and contemplated something else. He furrowed his brow in confusion, then turned around and started typing on the computer system he was standing in front of. A huge map then showed up on the screen.

"If these new villains are only being heard of now, then where were they during Ultron's rule?" He motioned to the right part of the map, "Ultron didn't conquer this half of the planet, but if they were hiding out here, wouldn't they have already started attacking people and taking over while they had the chance? It doesn't make sense," He said turning to the kids. They all nodded in agreement.

He then turned back to the map, motioning to the left part. "So that means they had to be somewhere in the area he did conquer, hiding, but what place could protect itself from Ultron's forces?" he asked. He then started thinking really hard, until it hit him. His face formed a somewhat horrified expression as he realized the obvious answer.

"Of course," he began, "His forces are strong enough to keep out Ultron's. He could stay in his empire, with the children of his fellow villains, and then send them out to start wreaking havoc on the world once someone else defeated Ultron, because he would never do his own dirty work. Yes, this all makes perfect sense! Why didn't I see it before?" Tony exclaimed, wide-eyed. He seemed to have forgotten the kids were still there, because they all had looks of confusion on their faces and no idea what Tony was talking about.

"Who is 'he' and where did these people hide?" May asked.

Tony's expression darkened a bit as he remembered he wasn't alone. He wasn't sure if he should tell the kids or not, this person was very powerful and he didn't want them to freak out.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," he finally said as he continued to have his back turned to them.

Silence fell over the room before someone finally spoke up.

"Don't keep us in the dark, Tony," Francis said sternly.

The old man finally turned to them before saying one simple thing, "Latveria."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

All of the teens sat in the living room of the tower. It was a square shaped room with a large flat-screen TV, a pale purple couch with a matching smaller couch, and two blue beanbag chairs. Laura and May sat in the beanbag chairs, James, Torunn, Francis, and Azari sat on the couch, and Francine and Pym sat on the smaller couch. It had been an hour since debriefing, and everyone had showered and gotten changed into more casual attire. Tony had given James a check-up, along with Francis, and both boys would be fine. James just had to take it easy and stay out of training for a few days, and Francis just had to be extra careful of his face during training, so they wouldn't be out of the game too long.

Francine had been warned to try to not go off on her own anymore, and she most likely wouldn't unless she was really needed to. She was now showered and dressed in a purple off-the-shoulder sweater, blue denim skinny jeans, and black UGGs. It was silent in the room, and she was really getting sick of no one talking, so she decided to break it.

"So, Latveria," she said. Everyone looked at her and she realized she didn't really know what else to say. Luckily, one of her adoptive brothers had input.

"It's an empire ruled by Doctor Doom," Pym said in a slightly scared tone. He was obviously not happy with the fact that one of the most powerful foes their parents had ever faced was still around. Laura was the next to add something.

"Why would Doom protect some children? I would think he hates kids, whether their good or bad." She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" May said, "Like Tony said, Doom doesn't do his own dirty work, especially now that he's older. So, he took the children of other villains and raised them to do the one thing he's always wanted to do himself, take over the world and destroy anyone who gets in his way. As of right now, that 'anyone who gets in his way' is us."

The other teens fell silent, taking in her words and logic. Finally, James spoke up.

"Just like Tony," he began, "Tony protected and raised us, well, half of us, but you get the point, to do what he no longer can do, and that's protect the world from evil. Doom just did the same thing with the children of villains instead of heroes, and instead of protecting the world, enslaving it."

The teens all nodded and agreed with the conclusions that were made. It all made perfect sense now, except they were all still wondering the same thing. Eventually, Francine asked out loud what everyone else was asking in their heads.

"Do you think there are more villains than just the ones that attacked the base?"

They all looked at each other, before Francis finally said,

"Knowing Doom, there most likely is. Probably one for each of us who can match our skill sets."

And with that the teens fell silent once more.


	6. Chapter 6

May began to stir slightly, trying to force herself to get up. It was 8:00 am and she was trying to wake up. The morning sun finally got in her eyes, causing her to blink a few times before hoisting herself out of bed. She was exhausted. Training was more intense than ever, and it really didn't help that she continued to toss and turn last night. She just can't seem to sleep that much anymore with knowing that there were people out there, BAD people, who had the power to take down her and the rest of the team. It was a scary thought, but it was also something heroes had to learn to live with. No one ever said being a crime fighter was easy, but at the same time, none of the team had really been able to relax since Indonesia. She guessed everybody was just adjusting to the idea that they weren't untouchable anymore, they weren't invincible anymore. They had finally met their match and were now facing a REAL threat. It was the truth, they just had to learn to face it.

The brown-haired girl then walked to her mirror. She had on a white camisole and red and blue fleece pajama pants. Her bed-head didn't look that bad, so she decided to go on ahead to breakfast. She then walked to her door and excited her room. When she got in the hallway, she saw Laura walking her way. She had on a sage green tank top and black double mesh shorts. She, like May, looked exhausted. Her black hair was a mess and there were bags under her green eyes. Obviously she didn't get much sleep last night, either.

They only nodded to one another to acknowledge each other's presence. They then walked side by side to the elevator. When they got on, May pressed the button to the 5th floor, where the kitchen was. As they began their descend, Laura decided to break the silence.

"I'm guessing you didn't get much sleep last night, either?" the clone asked.

"Barely any, I didn't fall asleep until around four in the morning," May answered, leaning against the side of the elevator.

Laura nodded in understanding, knowing that she herself didn't fall asleep until early in the morning. The elevator then came to a stop and the two girls exited it. They then walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

When they got into the kitchen, everybody else was already there. Well, everyone except Tony, who would wake up and eat early so he could spend more time in his lab or on the computer. He'd been doing that ever since the debriefing after Indonesia, which had been five days ago.

Anyway, all their teammates were in the kitchen eating breakfast. Like Laura and May, they were still in their pajamas. Torunn and James were talking, Azari was listening to Pym ramble on about something technological and Francis was throwing corn flakes at his sister, who was trying to refrain from attacking him. May then grabbed a yogurt from the fridge while Laura grabbed an apple off the counter.

"Good morning," Azari said to them as they sat down at the table.

"Good morning to you, too," May replied politely while Laura just grunted and continued to eat. The Wakandan boy raised an eyebrow at the clone and then looked back to May. She just shrugged.

"She's not in the greatest mood right now," the web-slinger explained. Azari nodded and was about to reply when he was cut off.

"Throw something at me one more time, I dare you," Francine loudly threatened her brother from her spot at the table.

Laura's bad mood disappeared as she smirked and watched the twins. "Finally", she said, "something interesting this morning."

Francis just smirked at his sister before saying, "You wouldn't really hurt your own brother, would you?"

"Try me," Francine said with a calm yet deadly tone, glaring at him.

The archer then threw another corn flake at his sister, who then jumped off of her chair and over the table, tackling him to the ground. The white-haired boy's eyes widened as he fell over, he was surprised his sister wasn't bluffing. His shock soon disappeared as he began to wrestle his sister on the ground, trying to get her off of him. While all of this was happening, Laura burst out laughing. She found this totally hilarious.

Torunn looked over at the fighting twins before turning back to James with a worried expression.

"Should we break them up?" the Asguardian asked.

"Nah," James said with a shrug, "they're not actually going to hurt each other. They're brother and sister, they're fighting for fun, not to kill each other. They're fine."

Torunn just nodded before the two continued the conversation they were having before the Barton twins started fighting. Everybody was soon interrupted once again when Tony entered the room. He looked awful. His hair was a complete mess and there were bags under his dull, tired blue eyes. It looked like he hadn't slept in days. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at the old man.

"Tony," Pym began, "when was the last time you slept?" You could tell the young boy was worried about his guardian. Tony just sighed and rubbed his face in a tired manner. He then looked at the teens.

"I'm fine, I promise. I've just been doing a lot of research lately, trying to find out more about this super-villain team. I haven't been able to find anything, I don't even know how many members there are," the old man said while looking down at the ground, disappointed in himself for knowing so little about such a big threat.

"Well, we know there's at least four members," Torunn offered, trying to cheer Tony up. The old man smiled at her, but the smile soon faded.

"I don't even know if they're still in Latveria or not," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was a frustrating situation. How will they be able to defeat this team when they know barely anything about them? They only know about four of the members, and they need to gather more information to be able to take this team down and keep the world safe.

"It's okay, Tony," Azari said, sensing the man's frustration, "over time, we'll be able to find out more about this team. For now, don't worry about it."

Tony smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

"Azari's right," he said, "we'll find out more over time. For now you guys should go start today's training." He then looked at James. "You can start training again today," he told the red-head.

"Yes!" James said, pumping his fist in the air. He then ran to get ready for training, everybody else soon following him. Training was important to them, because as of right now, it was the only thing they could do to be prepared.

And against a threat they were practically blind to, preparation was the only thing they've got.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Halloween was two days ago, I know, but I still wanted to do a special Halloween chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

Azari slowly made his way to the training room, totally exhausted from the night before. He had went on a solo mission to South Africa to stop some poachers from capturing and killing many endangered species. Unfortunately, he didn't get back to Avengers Tower until three in the morning, so he had slept until six PM.

On the bright side, it was Halloween. Kids usually trick-or-treated in the suburbs of the city, where the neighborhoods were, so he usually didn't see that many kids wandering around the streets wearing costumes. Which was kind of a good thing, since New York City at night wasn't really the safest place to be at.

Anyways, it had been a week since the talk in the kitchen. Everyone agreed to put this whole villain-team situation aside and focus on other problems for now. It helped relieve some of the stress, but everyone knew it was still in the back of all their minds.

When Azari finally reached the training room, he saw James there, though something wasn't right. The red-head was just standing there, his back turned. Azari raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Uh, James, what are you doing?" he asked.

Slowly, the red-head turned around, and Azari's eyes widened in shock. Instead of James' normal sky blue eyes, they were on fire. Literally. Flames were where his eyes should be. Still shocked, Azari began to speak.

"James…" he said unsurely.

With an aggressive grunt, James activated his gauntlet and threw a shield at Azari. With reflexes like a cat, the African-boy jumped out of the way.

"What the heck!?" he shouted.

To Azari's horror, the rest of his teammates entered the room, all with the same flaming eyes. In an instant, he was jumping around the room avoiding arrows, stings, a magical sword, webbing, energy shields and the occasional claw or bo-staff. Soon, he was cornered. Part of him was hoping this was just some Halloween prank, but the other part of him knew this was too extreme to be any prank.

"Come on guys, snap out of it!" he cried pleadingly.

Just as his teammates aimed their weapons at him, a purple circle of energy appeared out of thin air. The circle then opened up some sort of portal, and out floated a girl with green eyes and thick, wavy black hair. She wore black pants, a dark blue shirt with some light blue in the middle, and a red cloak with some sort of amulet attached to it.

She floated over to Azari and said some sort of spell, because soon a wall of purple energy was shielding them from any attacks.

"Come with me," the girl commanded as she started to float back towards the portal. Azari quickly followed her and soon the two jumped through the purple circle, and then it disappeared.

At an old house, still in New York City, the portal opened again and the two stepped out. As soon as the portal disappeared, Azari began to ask the first of many questions.

"Thanks for the save, but, who are you?" he asked.

"I am Anna Strange," the girl replied.

"Strange," Azari began, "as in, Doctor Strange?"

Anna nodded, and Azari's eyes widened.

"Yes, he was my father. Unfortunately, he was defeated by his arch nemesis, Dormammu," she said, looking away sadly.

"Dorma-who?" Azari asked.

"Dormammu. Ruler of the dark dimension," she said, looking straight at him, "he is the one who has taken control of your friends."

Azari's eyes widened in shock once again as he asked, "Why?"

"For millennias, Dormammu has tried to come to earth and conquer it. Fortunately, he has always been stopped. When my father became the Sorcerer Supreme, he defeated Dormammu and sealed him off in his dark dimension. Many times he tried to escape, but my father always stopped him. When Ultron took over, we fled into another dimension for safety. He grew weaker over the years, but taught me everything he knew. Eventually Dormammu found us and killed my father, but not before he gave his levitation cloak and eye of Agomotto amulet. I then defeated him and sealed him off in his dark dimension myself. Since then, I have been the new Sorcerer Supreme, well, Sorceress Supreme, I guess." Anna explained.

"If he's sealed off in his dimension, the how did he gain control of my friends?" Azari asked. He had a lot of questions.

"On All Hallow's Eve, the seal between earth and the dark dimension becomes weaker. Due to this, some of his magic was able to slip through and possess your friends. They now serve Dormammu and will do anything to help him get to earth," Anna explained.

"Well," Azari said, "it looks like we're going to have to stop him."

"Dormammu is an all-powerful being, he is very difficult to defeat, especially on All Hallow's Eve," Anna cautioned.

"Hey," Azari said, "you did it once, you can do it again. Especially now that you have The Avengers on your side, or, will have them on your side. I'm sure your magic can break whatever hold Dormammu has on them. So what do you say?"

Anna sighed before saying, "I suppose your right. Okay, let's do it. But be cautious, Dormammu is very powerful."

She then waved her hand and an image appeared out of thin air. In the image, he saw his friends walking in to some sort of flaming portal.

"They are now going into the dark dimension," Anna stated. She did another spell and another purple portal appeared and opened. "And that's where we're going, too."

And with that, the two stepped into the portal, and into the dark dimension.

Azari looked at the space around him. For miles and miles it was open space, and the sky was red. There were rocks floating all around, and he realized they were standing on one. In the distance, he saw and old, scary-looking castle. Anna then pointed to the same castle he was staring at.

"There is where Dormammu and your friends are," she said.

The two then jumped down onto a rock path and ran to the castle. When they got there, they busted through the giant door. Azari then took a step back, shocked. If you thought the landscape was scary, then Dormammu was petrifying. He was probably more than ten times bigger than all of them, and his head was on fire. He wore what looked like red and black armor. When he saw Anna, his lips twisted up in a sickening smirk.

"Anna Strange," he said in a loud, menacing voice. "How nice of you to join us."

"Let them go, Dormammu!" Anna demanded.

"I don't think I want to do that, not when I'm so close to taking over the earth" he said. He then turned towards Azari. "Ah, I knew I missed one."

He lifted his hands to shoot some sort of ray at him, but he jumped out of the way and Anna threw an energy blast at Dormammu. The evil being growled in pain as it hit him. Anna then turned towards Azari.

"Distract him, and I'll free your friends," she said.

Azari nodded as he ran off to distract Dormammu as Anna turned towards the rest of the Next Avengers. They raised their weapons at her, But Anna muttered a spell and soon all of them were being covered with the purple energy of Anna's magic. She squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated very hard to break Dormammu's control on them. Soon she felt his spell break and she fell to the floor, she used a lot of her energy.

All of the Next Avenger's eyes widened in confusion as they looked around, trying to process where they were and what happened.

"Where the heck are we?" Laura asked in an irritated tone.

"And what happened?" Torunn added.

"Let's just say, that evil guy possessed you all, so let's go defeat him." Anna said, standing back up.

"Sounds good to me," Francis said stringing an arrow in his bow and letting it fly. It hit Dormmamu in the leg and with a few ticks, blew up. Dormammu stumbled a bit, but then regained his balance and was otherwise unharmed.

Torunn flew at him with her sword and Laura started attacking him with her claws. However, barely any damage was done.

"He's a being of pure energy, weapons don't do much," Anna explained. She then said another spell and a sword made of her signature magic's purple energy appeared. She then started attacking Dormammu with it. "Unless there made of magic, of course," she said to them with a smirk. Dormammu fell back into a wall of the castle and it crumbled.

Azari then ran to his teammates. He had been using electricity to keep Dormammu distracted, and with him down now, he decided to check up on his team.

"Glad to see you guys not-so-evilly possessed," he said.

"Yeah, thanks to this girl! She's awesome!" Pym exclaimed. He ran up to Anna and started jumping up and down excitedly in front of her. Anna smiled and slightly blushed.

"Pym, calm down. I think your scaring her," May said.

"Yeah, what May said," James agreed.

"Who are you, by the way?" Francine asked with a raised eyebrow. Her spy instincts were getting her curious as to who this stranger was that Pym seemed to be fanboying over.

"Anna Strange. Daughter of Doctor Strange," the Sorceress replied.

All of the teenagers gawked at the answer, and Pym started getting even more excited.

"Wow! You must be the new Sorcerer, I mean, Sorceress Supreme!" he said.

"Yep, that's me," Anna said proudly.

Everybody's awe was soon interrupted as Dormammu got back up.

"Foolish children! I will destroy you!" he said, his voice full of pure rage. He shot a beam of red, flaming magic at them and they all jumped out of the way. Anna then floated up farther into the air and muttered a very powerful spell, because soon a huge blast of energy erupted from her hands and Dormammu was sent flying into the wall. The whole castle began to shake as pieces of the ceiling began to fall to the ground.

"The building's collapsing!" Francis yelled.

"Naw, we didn't even notice!" Laura yelled sarcastically.

"Now's not the time for sarcasm, come on!" Azari said, running towards Anna, who was already making a portal. The portal opened and all of the teens ran through it before it disappeared. It opened back up in the debriefing room of Avengers Tower. They all got out and saw Tony gawking at them.

Anna did another spell before saying, "Dormammu is once again sealed in his dark dimension."

Upon hearing the familiar name, Tony finally spoke.

"What happened?" he asked with a deadly calm in his voice.

Anna and Azari explained everything to him, along with the rest of the team. By the time they were done, Tony handed something to Anna. She then looked down at the object in her hands before her eyes lit up.

"An Avengers ID card?" Anna asked, surprised. It already had her face on it and everything.

"Yep," Tony said proudly, "You'll make a great asset to the team. If you don't quite want to join yet, keep the card and call us if you need help, or, if we need some backup."

Anna nodded in agreement. She then opened another portal and began to walk through it. However, she stopped and turned back to them before she fully stepped through.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind. Bye, guys!" she said smiling.

And with that, she disappeared.


End file.
